Did you notice that the graph appears to reflect over the x-axis?
The period of the original function y=sinx is .
We should have noticed from our graphing exploration that as the
value of b in the function y=sinbx gets larger (for b>1),
the period gets smaller. Using a graphing utility and different
values for b,
you should be able to determine that the period of the first graph,
is one third as large as
the period of y=sinx. Therefore it makes sense that the period
of this graph would be
.
You should have also noticed that for values of b
between 0 and 1, the graph appears
to stretch horizontally (the smaller the value of b, the greater the
period). Using a graphing utility, were you able to conclude that
the graph ofhas
a period four times larger than that of y=sinx? Did you determine
that the period is
or
?
What is the general formula for finding the period of the graph of y=sinbx?